Played the game long enough now to know that it’s very good at building people up

On Tuesday, England skipper Jos Buttler spoke about the team’s run in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2024, which is in danger of coming to a premature end in the group stages. Winless in their first two matches, the defending champions are under immense pressure heading into their remaining couple of fixtures.

With Scotland edging ahead in the race for qualification to the Super 8s, England must win their remaining games by comfortable margins and hope for other results to go their way.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Buttler discussed the media frenzy around the prospect of England being eliminated in the group stages. He said (via ESPNcricinfo):

“I’ve played the game long enough now to know that it’s very good at building people up and pretty good at criticising when it doesn’t go right, especially in England. I do the same thing when I’m watching a game of football or rugby – ‘how’s he missed that from there?’ ‘How did he miss from one-yard out’, or ‘someone’s dropped the ball over the line’. Simple things like that.”

The Englishmen failed to click as a bowling unit against Scotland and Australia. They failed to pick a wicket in 10 overs against Scotland, conceding 90 runs, before the match was washed out by rain. Australia scored 201 against England on their way to a 36-run win.

“There’s still lots of confidence in the group” – Jos Buttler

Despite the uphill task at hand, Buttler said the confidence in the group is still high. He added:

“It’s very easy to say we’re in a tough position, but we haven’t played loads of cricket. We were outplayed by Australia, and had one game rained out. There’s still lots of confidence in the group. I care more about the team than the media and the outside noise. That’s always there, it’s part of international sport.”

The 2022 edition saw England become only the second team after the West Indies to win the T20 World Cup twice.

England are currently fourth in the Group B points table with one point and an NRR of -1.800, behind Scotland, Australia, and Namibia.